Animania or An Evening with Consequences
by Princess Serenity-chan
Summary: Inspired by the one hour challenge 101: On the way home after an anime marathon with Andrew and the girls Darien hits his head. From that moment on he can only speak Japanese and nobody can understand him! Nobody? My first attempt in writing a fanfiction!
1. Mind your Head

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon or any of it's characters :( 

**Author's note: **You might need some vocabulary to clearly understand what's going on. So here we go:

- Motoki - Andrew's Japanese name

- hai - yes

- nani - what

- daijoubu desu - I'm all right/fine/ok

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**"Animania" or " an evening with consequences"**

"Come on buddy, join us tonight," Andrew pleaded. "It surely will be fun and all five girls will be here too." Darien rolled his eyes. "Andrew, please tell me what is so fascinating about anime that you have to waste a whole evening watching one after the other? Besides I have an assignment due to the end of next week. It's a really important and long essay and I should work on that…" "Oh my God!" Serena exclaimed and caught him off. "It is Saturday afternoon and the only thing you think about is school? I can't believe it! You know what Darien? You desperately need a social life!" He shot the blond who stood next to him a dark glare. "What do you know Meatball Head! At least I have good grades and don't fail every test!" he shot back. "You are such a jerk Darien! Anyway you really should come to our anime night. That is far better than sitting at home alone and studying. Boy, you have a whole week to do this stupid assignment. And apart from that, if you come here tonight and pretend to have fun you could accidentally have some." Serena gave him her sweetest smile and left the counter to join her friends before he could reply anything to her last comment.

Instead Darien groaned in annoyance and stared grimly into his coffee. "You know pal, she is right," Andrew said carefully, "you really should go out more often and have fun. You study and you work after class. I think such a break would be good for you. Just go out with us and have good time without thinking about school or work. Please come here tonight and join us for the anime marathon. Besides I really need you here! You won't leave your best friend alone with a bunch of teenage girls, will you?" he asked with puppy dog eyes. Darien sighed in defeat. "All right Andrew, you won. But I do it only because you are my friend and if I should survive this, you owe me one!" Andrew smiled thankfully at him. "Thank you so much Darien and don't worry you will have a great time. See you at 8pm then!" With that Andrew left the counter to take the orders from the guests who had arrived just a minute ago.

It literally had been an anime marathon and when they decided to go home it was three o' clock in the morning. So the boys had decided to walk the girls home and from Darien's point of view the night hadn't turned out as bad as he had thought in the afternoon. He had a few more verbal fights with Serena and the last one ended in a popcorn war between them but in the end everybody got involved in it. So while the rest of the group was chatting happily on the way home Darien followed them quietly, lost in his own thoughts. 'Maybe this time Andrew and my Meatball Head were right this afternoon. Maybe I should go out with them more often on weekends. I really had great fun tonight, something I didn't have for who knows how long. I really enjoyed every minute of it and that not only because of my dream girl.' The ebony-haired man was so deeply in thought about himself and his life that he recognized the light pole a second too late. He collided with it in full force and landed hard on his back. When the others turned around to him to see what had happened they couldn't help but giggle.

"The - I'm perfect in everything I do - Darien Shields didn't watch where he was going. And you call me a klutz." Serena said teasingly. While Darien shot the blonde a dark glare Andrew walked over to his friend trying to suppress his giggles. "Hey Darien, are you all right. I hope you haven't hit your head to hard." Darien just stared at him, confusion clouding his midnight-blue eyes. "Hey buddy, you look a bit pale. Are you ok?" Andrew asked again, the amused look on his face replaced by one of concern. "Nani?" Darien asked slightly confused but then remembered his friend's question and nodded slowly. "Hai, daijoubu desu." Andrew and the girls could only stare at him with a worried and questioning look on their faces. Finally Lita broke the silence. "He must have hit his head harder than it seemed." The others nodded in agreement.

"Girls, maybe it is better if I take Darien home immediately. He seems to be a little bit confused and is not acting like himself. Maybe he has a small shock or something like that." Andrew said and shot his friend another concerned look. "Could you walk home by yourselves or take a taxi? I really don't want to worry about your safety." " Sure thing Andrew. We can look after ourselves." Raye answered. "You guys can stay at my place tonight. That's closest from here and you can save the money for the taxi." "Thanks and good night girls! See you tomorrow in the arcade!" Andrew said and grabbed Darien's arm. "Come on pal, I'll take you home." "Hai, Motoki-kun," Darien murmured before he followed him slowly into the direction of his apartment.

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I hope you liked the first chapter. Please let me know what you think and stay tuned for the next chapter.


	2. A Japanese Conversation

Usagi – Serena's japanese name

Mamoru – Darien's japanese name

Odango Atama - Meatball Head

Genki desu - I'm fine

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When Serena and the girls entered the arcade the next afternoon Darien sat at his usual spot at the counter and stared into his coffee. "Hi Andrew, hi Darien!" she greeted them cheerfully. "How are you feeling today?" she asked the black haired guy. "Arigatou Odango Atama, genki desu." he answered and smiled. Serena and the other girls looked over to Andrew and arched their brows. "I really don't know what's going on here," he said. "He has been acting like this since he's been hitting that light pole. It seems that, for some strange reason, he can only speak Japanese. But I never learned that language and I can't understand a single word he says to me!"

"That is amazing," Ami muttered under her breath. "The anime session we had must have had a severe influence on Darien's subconscious. And when he collided with the light pole and hit his head his subconscious rapidly worked it's way to the 'surface' and it now suppresses all his existing knowledge of languages." The others just stared at her. "Ok," Mina said, "let me get this straight. You want to tell us that poor Darien had a Japanese language overdose thanks to our anime night and that he now, thanks to his impact with that light pole, shows a reaction?" "Yes, basically that's what I said." The girls were silent for a moment. "Fine. Now we know what caused this transformation but how can we change Darien back into his old self?" Lita asked concerned. "She is right, " Raye agreed. "We have to do something. Darien cannot stay like this and besides none of us can speak Japanese. What do you think Meatball Head?" Serena was unusually quiet throughout the whole conversation. Her thoughts seemed to be somewhere else. So Raye gave the blonde an impatient push with her elbow. "I wanted to know what you think." " Hmm?" Serena answered. "Sorry Raye I wasn't listening." "As usual!" Raye snapped. "Anyway, what are we going to do with him…"

While the girls were discussing with Andrew how to solve Darien's language problem he was again lost in thoughts. 'Oh man this is really bad. How can I go to university or work. It makes no sense to go there at all as long as I have this language problem. It's no use in going there if my professors and my boss can't understand a single word I say. And who knows how long this, whatever it is, will last.There must be something I can do. Damn it!' 'But there are also some good sides about your current state,' Darien's inner voice said soothingly. 'Take a minute and think about it.' And he did. 'If nobody understands any word I speak I could basically say what I want without having to think about the consequences. I can tell Serena how I really feel for her and I can do it without the fear of being rejected and hurt because she won't know that I just confessed my love for her. Either she will ask me what I said and then I can make up something as soon as I'm back to normal or she will take it as another insult and call me a cruel jerk. But either way, as soon as this language problem is solved I can act as if nothing had happened. There finally is a way to tell her everything without the danger that this confession might change something between us, our daily routine or that I might lose her because of it. I could never live with that. She means too much to me…'

Serena's voice brought him back into reality. "Hey Darien, is everything ok? You look a bit sad. "Ee, daijoubu desu (Yes, I'm fine)." he answered, hoping that she hadn't heard the slight trambling in his voice. Serena didn't reply. She just looked him in the eyes and smiled. "Oh Darien! What shall we do with you?" Andrew asked full of concern. Darien ignored his friend's question and continued looking at the beautiful angel in front of him. "Usagi-chan no kami wa totemo kirei desu, (Your hair is really beautiful, Serena)" he said with a hushed voice. "Suki desu (I like it). Soshite Usagi-chan wa totemo kirei desu. (And Serena, you are really beautiful)." Darien smiled lovingly at her, waiting for her reaction. "Darien…" was all the blonde could say.

It was obvious that his little speech had surprised her and not only her because he realized that Andrew and the girls were staring at him. Darien's smile grew wider but he continued with a calm voice: " Ore wa Usagi-chan koto ga daisuki da (I love you Serena)." Serena gasped and looked at him with slightly shocked expression on her face which turned slowly into a bright and beautiful smile. " Oh Mamoru!" she exclaimed and now it was Darien who stared at her in shock and disbelief as well as Andrew and the girls. 'Could it be that…No impossible!' he thought while his face lost all colour. "Mamoru-chan," the blonde continued trying to stay calm. "Watashi mo daisuki da...omae koto ga (I love you too Darien)." Darien completely missed that last remark from her. His shock was simply too big. "Wakarimashita ka (You understood)?" he asked with a hoarse and shaky voice. "Hai," Serena answered softly, "yoru wakarimashita (I understood everything)." The ebony-haired man groaned in despair as her words sank in. 'This cannot be. This must be a bad dream…' was his last thought before darkness embraced him. For a man he fainted very gracefully.


	3. Blackout

When Darien opened his eyes he looked into six worried faces. "Hey buddy! Are you alright?" Andrew asked. "Yeah, kind of," Darien answered rubbing his head and not noticing the looks the girls and his best friend exchanged. "I feel a bit dizzy and my head hurts but apart from that I'm fine." "No wonder that you have a headache. It was quite a fall from that chair." Andrew replied with a smile on his face which quickly faded when he realised the confusion in Darien's eyes. "You fell of your chair a few minutes ago and passed out, remember?" he explained. "Really," was all that Darien said, stood up and looked at Andrew and the girls. "Can someone tell me what happened and how I came here?" he asked after a few moments of silence. Now it were the girls and Andrew who looked totally confused.

"Do you want to say that you don't remember what happened in the last few hours?" Serena asked with a slightly shaking voice. Darien nodded. "The last thing I do remember is that I hit my head somehow when we walked home after the anime marathon," he said thoughtfully. "What happened from then until now I can't say. Please tell me." Ami sighed. "Alright. You hit your head last night and passed out. When you woke up you started speaking Japanese and only Japanese." "I did what?" Darien cut her off nearly screaming. "It was strange but that is what happened. You spoke only Japanese and we couldn't understand a word," Lita continued. "We think this might have had something to do with the anime marathon, a kind of reaction of your sub conscious caused by the hit on your head." Darien could only stare at the five girls and his best friend. "And I think when you hit your head a few minutes ago for the second time everything changed back to normal," Ami explained. "Only that you can't remember the time between the first and the second head injury."

Darien took a deep breath. "Tell me Ami, will I be able to remember this time someday?" "Honestly I don't know," the blue haired girl lowered her eyes. "Maybe, maybe not or maybe only parts of it. In medicine you can find lots of examples for all three possibilities when it comes to partial amnesia." Darien groaned and ran one hand through his hair. "Maybe you should go home and take it easy for the rest of the day." Andrew said. "I'll come around after work if you like." Darien nodded and smiled thankfully at his friend. "I guess you are right. We also have a long day in college tomorrow. I need to be fit for that." With that he made his way to the entrance. "Bye girls, bye Meatball Head!" he shouted before he walked through the doors.

To the surprise of her friends Serena didn't react in the way she normally did when Darien called her 'Meatball Head'. She just stood there and stared after him, pale as the death himself. "Serena is everything ok?" Lita asked worried. "You look like you would pass out every second," Ami added. "No, everything is fine, really." The blonde lied trying to keep her voice steady. "Fine. Then please tell us: What did you say to Darien before he fell unconscious?" Mina asked curiously. "Don't tell us you understood a word from what he said to you," Raye added with doubt. Serena sighed and shook her head. "So what did say to him?" Mina asked for the second time. "It was just a quotation from an anime," Serena lied again. "An insult to be exact. That's all!" The blonde didn't care what her friends now thought. All she wanted was to get out of the arcade. "Alright girls, I'm sorry but I have to go. I promised my mum to be home in the early afternoon. See you!" And before any of the girls or Andrew could say anything she was out of the door. "She behaved strangely today, didn't she?" Andrew asked. "Definitely," Ami answered. "Do you believe what she said about her conversation with Darien?" "Not a word," Raye stated crossing her arms before her chest. "But we'll find out the truth, no matter how."

After Serena had left the arcade she ran through the crowded streets. She didn't care about the people staring after her or about the angry remarks when she bumped into someone. All she wanted was to be alone.When she arrived at the Central Park the blonde ran to her favourite spot in the rose gardens close to the lake. It was quiet and people never came there because this spot was hidden by the deep hanging branches of the willow trees surrounding it. Serena sat down in the grass and pulled her knees protectively up to her chest. She stared onto the lake and closed her eyes with a sad sigh. 'This can't be true. It must be a bad dream,' she told herself. 'Finally he told me the truth about his feelings and now he can't remember anything, not even that I…' At that point Serena wasn't able to fight back the tears any longer. With a painful sigh she broke down and cried.


	4. Serena's Strange Behaviour

Hi everybody! Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy reading it and please review.

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"Oh no! I'm soooo late! Ms Haruna is going to kill me, give me detention or even both!" Serena screamed when she started her usual run to the high school. ' What a 'great' way of starting a 'great' week, ' she thought grimly while she ran down the street. As the blonde passed the arcade and took a left she bumped into something or better someone. "Oh sorry, I didn't pay…" "Good morning Meatball Head!" she was interrupted by Darien's deep voice. "Late again?" he asked teasingly. Serena had stared at the ground the whole time and even now the girl didn't look up. "Hi," was all she said before she ran passed a confused Darien with tears brimming in her eyes. 'Oh God! Why do I always meet him even if I try to avoid that?' she asked herself and sighed. 'How shall I act around him now? I can't even look him in the eyes without starting to cry. So there is only one thing I can do..'

Of course Serena was late for her first class and of course she got one hour of detention but she didn't really care. She also didn't take any care all her classes which was an unusual thing, even for someone like Serena. At the beginning of the lunch break Ami and Lita came over to her desk. "Hey girl, are you alright? You don't seem to be yourself today." Lita asked with a worried voice. "No worries, I'm alright," Serena lied. "I'm just a bit tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night." 'At least that is true.' She thought. "So maybe a milkshake in the cafeteria would wake you up," Ami suggested. "It's my treat." "That's nice but…thanks no. I just want to be on my own for a while. See you after the break." With these words the blonde left. Ami and Lita could only stare after their friend. "Serena turned down the offer of a free milkshake? Boy, something is utterly wrong here." Lita said and Ami nodded in agreement. While the two girls discussed about a possible reason for Serena's strange behaviour she was sitting on a bench in the school yard with a small book on her lap and a pen in her hand. After a few moments she sighed. For the second time this day her eyes were clouded with tears when she started to write: '_Dear Diary…'_

The next day Serena's behaviour wasn't much different. She didn't talk much to her friends and stayed away from them most of the time knowing that they sooner or later would ask questions and at the moment she didn't need anything like that. In the afternoon the girls met in the arcade as usual, only that Serena had excused herself earlier that day like she had done the day before. When the four girls entered the arcade the saw Darien, who seemed to be a bit down, sitting at the counter. "Hi Darien," Raye greeted him cheerfully, "What's up? You don't look too happy." "I'm alright," the ebony haired student answered. "I was just thinking about Meatball Head. We bumped into each other yesterday morning and this morning too but she behaved totally strange towards me," he sighed. "By the way where is she?" Andrew asked. "Serena told us that she wanted to go home directly after school because she wants to study for the test tomorrow," Ami explained. "And yesterday she told us that she had to help her mother with something and had no time to come here with us," Lita added. "Do you believe her?" Darien asked with a quizzical expression on his face. "Not a word!" Raye exclaimed and crossed her arms before her chest. "Serena studying for a test, voluntarily? Before that happens hell will freeze over!" "So it must have something to do with the things that happened while you were 'japanized'. Maybe something you said to her." Mina concluded. "That's the only logical explanation if you ask me." Darien ran a hand through his hair and sighed in desperation. "If I only could remember what I said…"

Wednesday morning turned out to be kind of a good morning for Serena. After arriving five minutes too late for her first class she was told that she had the first two hours off because Ms Haruna was sick. So she decided to leave before Ami or Lita would find her and go to the arcade. 'He won't be there at this time in the morning. I'm sure he's in college now,' the blonde thought and took a deep breath before she entered the arcade. And she was right, no Darien. Serena breathed a sigh of relief and sat down at her usual spot at the counter. "Hi Serena! Long time no see!" Andrew greeted her. "Hi Andrew, can I get the usual please?" "Of course girl." He smiled at her and prepared the milkshake. But even he directly noticed that something was not as it should be. Serena didn't talk much while drinking her shake and with her thoughts she seemed to be in a totally different world. That changed from one second to the other when a well known voice could be heard from the entrance. "Hi Andrew, hi Mea… äh… Serena!" Andrew greeted his friend but Serena didn't say anything. She just put some money on the counter, grabbed her school bag, murmured something like "see you" in Andrew's direction stormed out of the arcade. "What the hell was that?" Darien asked with confusion and despair written on his face. Andrew could only shrug his shoulders. "I don't know pal, I don't know." Later that morning after Darien had left Andrew started to clean the counter. Under one of the chairs in front of it he found a small book. Curious who the owner might be he opened it and after his eyes had flown over the first page he took a deep breath. The first line of the page read '_Dear Diary'_ and the last one '_Serena'_.


	5. Andrew to the Rescue

Hi Everybody! Here is the next chapter of the story. Sorry that I didn't update sooner but I really had a lot of work to do. But now enough talk. Please enjoy! -Princess Serenity-chan-

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It was afternoon when Darien entered the arcade for the second time this day. "Hi pal! I hope you had a good day in college." Andrew greeted him friendly. Darien only nodded and sighed. "I hoped that Serena would be here. I need to talk to her about whatever happened between us last Sunday when I talked to her Japanese. Otherwise I'll go completely nuts!" Andrew chuckled and smiled at his best friend. "Maybe this will help you to find the answers to your questions." He said mysteriously and placed a small book on the counter. "What's this?" Darien asked quizzically. "And how can it me solving my problems with Serena?" "I tell you why," Andrew explained. "This book will help you because it's her diary. I guess she lost it this morning when she fled out of here because of you."

Darien looked a bit shocked. But before he could say anything Andrew continued. "Alright, I know that one should never read someone's diary without his or her permission but I thought this is a special case, an emergency one can say." When he noticed the look on Darien's face he sighed in defeat. " I'm sorry. I know that it was wrong but I really wanted to help. Besides I only read the last entry and if you really want to know what happened last Sunday between you two you should read it too!" For a moment Darien seemed to be unsure if he should follow his friend's advice or not but then he took the book and opened it. With slightly shaking fingers he turned the pages until he came to the last entry. 'The moment of truth!' he thought while his heartbeat sped up a pace, and began to read:

"_Dear Diary,_

_it has been three days now since his confession and I can't take it anymore. I don't know what to do and how to act around Darien. The only thing I can do is stay away from him because if I would be around him everything would be worse. But even that doesn't work very well. Especially now it seems that I just can't escape him. Just to think about Darien makes me cry and being together with him when he acts like nothing ever happened is pure agony for me. I don't know what to do. How does one react if the guy you have a major crush on tells you that he loves you and then forgets about it? _

_I'm so confused. I always thought that he hated me, that he saw nothing more in me than a stupid and ditzy middle school student and then he tells me that he loved me from the first day we met. Will he ever remember that he confessed his love for me last Sunday? But even if he does he wouldn't know that I understood every word he said. Who would believe that stupid Serena, who fails nearly every English test, can speak another language and then such a difficult one like Japanese. _

_Oh there are so many things I want to know but there are no answers to my questions. Will Darien ever find the courage to tell me again how he feels about me? Is there any chance for this if an incident like the one last weekend is needed to make him tell the truth about his feelings? I know that one should always think positive and that one should never give up, no matter how desperate or hopeless a situation seems to be. I normally am that kind of person but since last weekend I start asking myself if, maybe, we are not meant to be together. That thought tears my heart in to pieces but it seems that destiny doesn't allow me to find happiness with the man of my dreams. Oh Darien, will there ever be a chance for us?"_

Darien put the book back on the counter without saying a word. He simply couldn't believe what he just had read. "Oh god, Andrew I…" he stammered. "It's alright pal," Andrew said and patted Darien's shoulder. "Alright?" he nearly screamed, "nothing is alright! Absolutely nothing! I broke Serena's heart and I hurt her, even if I didn't know that until now! I have to go and find her. I need to talk to her!" With that Darien grabbed the diary from the counter and stormed over to the entrance where he nearly bumped into Amy, Raye, Mina and Lita. "Hi Darien," Raye said smiling at him. "Why in such a hurry?" "No time for explanations!" was the only answer she got before the ebony haired man run out of the arcade and left four surprised and dumbfounded girls behind. "What the heck was that?" Raye enquired. The girls only shrugged their shoulders. "No idea." Mina said. "But maybe Andrew knows something."

'Oh no,' Andrew thought. 'God please have mercy on me!' But there was no chance of escape. Before he had the possibility to disappear into the storage room behind the counter he was surrounded by four very curious girls. "Andrew, what's going on here with Darien?" Raye asked and her eyes showed that she would not be satisfied until he had told her the truth. Andrew sighed in defeat. "Alright, here's the short version of the whole story. Darien found out that he confessed his love to Serena on Sunday. And now he wants to talk to her about it." "HE DID WHAT!" all four girls exclaimed. "Oh man, that's better than in the movies," Mina giggled, "and so romantic." "Girls I want to know how this story ends!" Lita explained. "I say we follow him." The other girls nodded in agreement and even the usually quiet Amy agreed wholeheartedly. "See you later Andy!" the girls exclaimed before they stormed out. 'Oh Jesus!' was all Andrew could think.

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I hope you liked that chappie. There will be one more. So stay tuned for the epilogue and please review.


	6. Epilogue

Hi! Here is the last chapter, finally! I'm really sorry that it took so long and that I kept you waiting. But the writers block hit me really bad and when it was over I had no time to write anything down because of school, work and christmas. But I managed it finally to post this chapter. The last part of it is a bit cheesy but I hope you'll like it. And as usual reviews are very welcome!

And now enjoy! Princess Serenity-chan

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'Where could she be?' Darien thought while he was running through the crowded streets. 'Damn it! Think Shields!' he scolded himself. 'What do you know about her that could give you the slightest idea where to find her?' Just as he ran past a small flower shop it hit him like lightning. "Roses, of course!" the ebony haired student shouted out loud. "Serena loves roses!" With that thought in his mind he headed for the rose gardens in the central park. By the time he arrived only a few people were around. Darien stopped in his tracks and breathing hard he looked around.

It took him a while but finally he spotted Serena at the lake, her small figure nearly hidden completely by the branches of the willow trees. She sat close to the shore and the sun reflecting in her hair made it seem as if it was pure gold. 'She's beautiful, like a goddess,' Darien thought dreamily. 'But she looks sad.' 'Guess why?' his inner voice answered. 'How would you feel if you were in her place?' Trying to ignore the voice in his head Darien took a deep breath and walked over to her. "Hi Serena," he greeted her hoping that she hadn't noticed the nervousness in his voice. "Go away Darien," she answered without looking up. "You and your teases are the last thing I need today!" "I'm not here to tease you," he said quietly. "Please Serena, we need to talk."

"Where did Darien go?" Lita asked breathlessly. "Please don't tell me that we've lost him!" "But that's what obviously happened," Raye stated. "Oh no!" Mina wailed. " We'll miss the best part of this whole story. I want to know if there's going to e a happy end or not. And of course I want to know why Serena understood what Darien said to her in Japanese!" "Calm down Mina," Ami said. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough…" "And how if we have no idea where our two love birds are? She was interrupted by Raye. "Let's think of places Serena likes to go to apart from the arcade," Lita suggested. "Hmm, she likes roses very much," Ami said. " So the best place to look for her is…" "The park, rose gardens!" Mina finished the sentence. "Then what are we waiting for?" Raye exclaimed and stormed off into the direction of the park followed by the other girls.

Serena looked suspiciously at Darien and frowned. Her eyes were slightly red and it was obvious that she had cried. "What could we have to talk about?" "Last sunday for example," he replied. " And why you avoid seeing since that day or why you leave, no flee, whenever I show up somewhere…" He waited for a few moments but when the blonde didn't say anything and stared at the ground instead Darien continued. "Serena, I know what happened last sunday…" That got her attention and her head shot up. "So you remember everything?" she asked with a trembling voice. "No, not exactly," the young man answered truthfully.

Serena looked at him with questioning eyes and confusion written all over her face. Darien sighed, pulled the book out of his pocket and placed it carefully into her lap. "My…my diary…" she muttered under her breath. He just nodded. "Andrew found it in the arcade this morning after you had left. You must have lost it when you stormed out. He just wanted to know who the owner of that book was and…" "Alright, I get the picture," Serena interrupted him and sighed sadly. "Andrew read the last entry and showed it to you right?" Again Darien nodded. "How could he dare to…" her voice trailed off and she pressed the diary tight to her chest while tears began to well up in her eyes. "He just wanted to help. Honestly," Darien said with a soothing voice. "He told me that I would find the answer concerning your strange behavior towards me an so…" he sighed and softly placed a hand on Serena's shoulder. "I'm really sorry," he continued trying to keep his voice steady. " I know I shouldn't have done that and I never wanted to invade your privacy like this. But I desperately wanted to have some answers and since you refused to talk to me or even your friends your diary was the only chance to get them. Please forgive me!" She remained silent.

Meanwhile the girls had reached the rose gardens too. "Where are they?" Mina asked impatiently. "I really hope we didn't miss the show!" "Oh Mina," Ami sighed. "Sometimes you are so immature." "You are the one to talk," Mina shot back. "Admit it! You all want to know how this ends just as much as I do! Apart from that it was Lita's idea to follow Darien." "Ok, ok!" Raye said rolling her eyes. "Calm down. If we continue to speak that loud they'll definitely find out that we're here although we shouldn't be." "True," Lita answered. "So let's find out where our to love birds are. It can't be too difficult since there are only a few people around. And if I were Serena I would go to…" "The lake!" Mina exclaimed and was immediately hushed by the others. "Ok let's go," Lita whispered and the four girls quietly made their way down to the lake. Once they had spotted Serena and Darien sitting at the shore under the willow trees they sneaked over to a group of bushes that was situated close by.

Darien ran a hand through his hair and with a dejected sigh he stood up. When he was just about to leave he heard her soft voice and turned around. "Why?" Serena asked with a trembling voice still staring at the ground. "Why did you tease and hurt me nearly every day when in reality you loved me? Why did it take such a special incident like last weekend to make you confess?" She now, finally, faced him and the sad expression in her eyes tore his heart. "If it weren't for last Sunday I still wouldn't know. Would you've ever told me under normal circumstances?"

Darien sat down and lowered his head. "If you would only know how many times I wanted to tell you how I really feel about you but every time I chickened out in the very last moment…" his voice trailed off. "I was too afraid I guess." "Afraid?" Serena asked softly. He just nodded and then continued still not able to face her. "You know I never experienced much love in my life. My parents died in a car accident when I was six years old. I survived but since that day I've been suffering from total amnesia. I couldn't even remember my name when I woke up in the hospital and until today I haven't regained any of my memories. Because one couldn't find any relatives I grew up in an orphenage, a terrible place," he sighed sadly. "Because of my amnesia I was different from the other kids. So I've always been an outcast and I've always been alone. During the years I had to stay in that orphenage I got hurt so many times that I started to build up defenses. I always kept people at distance except for Andrew but it took him a long time to make me trust him. This kind of self-protection worked until…until you entered my life."

He was quiet for a moment searching for the right words. "You touched me in a way nobody ever did before and it scared the hell out of me…" "So you decided to push me away instead," Serena whispered. Darien nodded and when he looked into her eyes he noticed a sad but also warm expression in them that encouraged him to go on. "I really wanted to tell you about my true feelings but I was so afraid that you would reject me, especially after the way I treated you and that I would end up hurt again." He took a deep breath and lowered his head. "I was also afraid to lose you. I wanted you to be a part of my life so I kept on teasing you because that way I had at least some kind of relationship with you. But the there was that strange language incident after anime night. So I decided to take that chance to finally tell you because I had nothing to lose. Nobody could understand what I said…or so I thought…"he whispered.

Right then Darien felt Serena's hand on his shoulder and he slowly raised his head to face her. What he saw in her beautiful blue eyes simply took his breath away. The sadness in them had completely vanished. Instead they shone with love, care and warmth. "Baka (fool)," she softly said. " You could have spared both of us from a lot of heartache and concerning myself lots of tears and sleepless nights because **I do** love you!" Darien felt tears welling up in his eyes. He'd been happy when read those words in Serena's diary but what he felt now that he heard them from her was indescribable. "You really do?" he asked huskily. "Yes," she whispered smiling lovingly at him. "With all my heart." Serena had barely finished the sentence when Darien pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her passionately. After a few seconds of surprise she entwined her arms around his neck and responded wholeheartedly when he deepened the kiss.

"Oh my God! This is sooooo romantic!" Mina sighed. "I love happy ends, "Lita added dreamily. "I hope I'll get myself a handsome boyfriend soon!" The others nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should leave those two alone now," Ami said pointing into the direction of the happy couple. "No!" the rest of the group nearly shouted. "We still don't know why Serena was able to understand every word Darien said to her in Japanese and I won't leave before I know," Raye whispered. A look in the faces of Lita and Mina told Ami that they were also determined to stay until the very end. She sighed in defeat and turned her attention again to the couple at the lake starting to feel really bad for spying on them like this.

"I'm so happy," Serena said smiling. "So am I," Darien answered and planted a kiss on her forehead. "But there is one last thing I would like to know. Why could you understand what I said in Japanese?" The blonde giggled. "My grandfather fell in love with a Japanese a few years after he got separated from his first wife, my 'real' grandmother. But I never met her. He married Akiko when I was about two or three years old. So she became my grandma and because I was so interested in her native language she taught me how to speak Japanese." She smiled again at Darien and snuggled closer to him. " I really think that I should thank her one day," he said while softly caressing her cheek. "I love you Serena," he whispered and pulled her into his arms again as they shared another passionate kiss.

"Oh I'm so envious," Mina sighed. The other girls nodded in agreement except for Ami. "I don't believe this," she muttered. "We just came here to find out if there is a happy end for Serena and Darien. We did and should have left already… and now we're sitting here hidden in the bushes watching a couple make out. Girls let's face it: Either we desperately need a life or we have hentai tendencies and should seek professional psychological help!" The only answer she got from her friends were annoyed groans. But after a short discussion the girls finally decided to take their leave. Luckily Serena and Darien were too distracted by each other to notice four girls crawling out of the bushes and quietly sneaking away.


End file.
